What was your first car? What happened to it?

I'd like to hear from all of you to find out whateveryone's first car was. If you're like me, itwasn't a classic at the time, but is now.

I guess I'll start off. Mine was a 1970 Buick GS455. Dark green with white vinyl interior,automatic in the console, air, etc. I drove it forseveral years and sold it for $1000 to put down ona 1982 Datsun 280ZX. Who knew?

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My first car was a 70/72 Toyota Corona Mark II wagon, named "Clyde." The body and engine was a 70, and the rear end and front axle were from a 72. I'll explain.

I bought the 72 for $700 and one week later crash it. The engine and body were beyond repair. Two weeks after the accident, I bought the 70 for $50. The body and engine were in great shape, but the rear end was shot, as was the front axle. My father, my cousin and I dragged it home and began to build Frankenstein's Monster. We managed to put together one good car out of the two wrecks.

It had a push-button start on the dash, a hole in the floor on the passenger side, and a heater control valve that liked to spit boiling hot water on my right foot every now and then. Top speed was 50 mph, and that was only if you were drafting behind a big truck.

I drove it for two years, and gave it to my brother. He drove it for another two years, and sold it to a friend of his. I heard it finally went to the junk yard in 1987.

Two tone Green and White '59 Dodge Coronet, huge low slung coupe, large fins on the rear, pushbutton transmission on the upper left hand part of the metal dash board. Eventually it started to constantly overheat, so I junked it with about 80,000 miles, but it only cost $150 and it was good for a year and a half.

My first was a 1959 MGA. I'll never forget trying to give the previous owner the brick I found in the floorboard when I started home with it. He said keep it, you'll need it. I couldn't imagine why, but soon found out--the emergency brake didn't work, probably hadn't since 1960! But when hot, the starter wouldn't turn the motor over with the clutch pedal held in. You had to put it in neutral to start it. Made parking on a hill tricky! I soon learned to back up, open the door, drop the brick and roll back down to it before shutting the motor off!

I drove it for 3 years, bought another MG (a 1969 MGC) before I sold the A. My father-in-law (future, then) made fun of my $1000 price on the A but was surprised the day I sold it and the guy who bought it passed him on the road on the way home!

Of all the cars I've had (11 from age 16 to 26), the MGA is the one I want back....just wait until I get the kids out of the house!

The MGA wasn't my very first car, but close...3rd I think...still like those cars...a very honest sports cars...getting to be quite valuable these days, for a really nice one.

My first car was a 1955 Studebaker President two-door hardtop, stickshift 289 V-8 with overdrive. Good-looking car, pretty quick for its time (as good as a '55 Chevy 265 V-8)...sold it when I tore the differential off its mounts hitting a Manhattan pothole at a high rate of speed.

I'd like some advice and help and don't know if I should open a new topic or not. What I'd like to do is to find an easily adaptable power door lock system to put in my son's Jensen Healey. It needs to be sliding locks, not plunger locks. The throw on the slider is about an inch and a half, maybe a little less. I was thinking some of the custom street rodders might have an idea of which cars to rob in the boneyard--hondas, toyotas, Nissan? What do you think?

My first car was a beautiful, showroom condition 55 Chev Belair 2dr with 29000 original miles on it. 265 V8, 3-spd column shift, and dual glasspacks. The old man I bought it from called them "lifetime" mufflers, and claimed they gave better gas mileage. Never mind-they sounded GREAT-and-this was in 1964-I paid $475. cash for the car!!. One of those ads in the San Jose CA paper thAt had no phone number and little information in it. Almost didn,t check out the ad.I drove the car for over a year, and then put in a 327 fuely block with that 30-30 cam. After another year, I sold it with 65000 mikes on it, and 10000 on the new Corvette motor-for $550 cash. That was in the summer of 66, so I could buy a hot Plymouth Belvedere hardtop with 383 and 4 speed. I'd like to have BOTH of those cars now....

Being the excited, but dirt poor, 16yr. old, I bought my first car - a 1966 VW beetle with 69' interior. Beulah, was her name and she was a gem! I bought her while living in Pennsylvania then moved to Takoma Park, Maryland where she was stolen. I had just had her painted by a friend who needed a car to work on since his vocation was auto body/restoration. Beulah was painted a lovely soft turquoise and when found, all parts had been stolen and she was left in the gravel pits near Calverton, Maryland. Surprisingly, I seldom think about the ole' girl now, but she was definitely a good buy at the time.

First car of my own was a 1960 Ford F-100 pickup truck. I paid $200 after dark for it, in 1987. First sign that all was not well was when it got driven home and the timing chain broke. I bought it in October, and got to drive it for the first time in December!

It was white, with panels cut out of the bed sides to make storage cubbies, because it'd been used to haul a camper around. It had the horn on the dashboard, and the windshield washers on a foot-stomp-squeezebulb, and the backup light on a switch...I'd turn the backup light on at the bank, and remember to turn it off at the gas station! It didn't have dash lights, and I had to turn on the dome light to see how fast I was going at night -- until one night I was fiddling with the switch and presto! I had dashlights!

It had a 254 straight-6 that burned oil by the gallon, and a 3-spd on the column, and I got passed by bicycles off the line! The first summer, it ate THREE engines (the mechanic warranteed the first one, the fool, and the other two were under warrantee!) and the repair yard traded it straight across for a 1977 Oldsmobile Omega with a 350-4bbl. Talk about a blah-mobile!

first car was '66 thunderbird when I was 18. Bought it from my grandfather in 1988 for $1500. checked into insurance. bare bones liability was $2400/year. sold it back to gramps a month later. Year later got a 400cc Yamaha motorcycle. Insurance was $200/year. go figure. probably had a better chance of scrambling my brains on the bike.

I paid $500 dollars to the estate of a deceased Great Aunt for this car. This car was built in the year of my birth.

I didn't get this car until late into my Junior year in H.S. because I was a bit of a lazy [non-permissible content removed] and didn't really aspire to independent mobility the way that my borther and most of my friends did. I didn't want to work summer jobs I'd rather ride a bike to the beach.

When I first got this car I was total stoked with it. I could load up all my friends in it to go anywhere we wanted. Soon after I discovered this wasn't such a good benefit since all my frineds always wantd me to drive whenever we went anywhere. Every other time usaully conceeded to their demands.

I drove this car for only about a year and a half but I certainly made my mark on its life. I wish now that I'd been a little more sympathetic to its age and treated it a little better. The car still resides in a barn on my father's property and is currently awainting "restoration" should its day ever come.

I do love this car and have many found memories surrouding this car. Three on the tree with total syplicity in it's straight six. I plan to restore this car and drive it another 100k+.

My first car was a 63 Impala 2 door hardtop. I traded by sister's bicycle for it (she never missed it). It had arm power steering and foot power brakes, but it did have those great wire wheel covers which I still have. I wish I had it back.

My first car/s was a 1963 Ford Falcon. 6cyl,2speed auto tranny. Bought two vehicles for $100 from a neighbor. One 4 door and one 2 door. Drove it a couple of years. The most fun car I ever owned. Beat the heck out of it and still wanted more. An accident damaged front end, sold both for $200.Miss them.

The year was 1965. I was 16 years old working in a gas station when it limped in one day.

The fuel pump was leaking badly. The old man had had enough! I gave him thirty five dollars for it!

Bought a rebuilt pump for seven dollars and the thing ran!

He was the original owner and the car had only 50,000 miles on it.

But, alas, he had never changed the oil!

Sold it because I couldn't afford the insurance at the end of the summer for 125.00.

It did cart us back and forth to the beach lots of times.

The scary day was when the Watts riots broke out, I lived about 30 miles away. My buddy and I were driving the old Chevy and could see smoke from the fires in the distance and decided to drive over there to see what was happening.

This was a BAD idea! Long story, but we got a police escort out of there!

Sounds like you were in the LA area about the same time I was. My best friends first car was a 61 Falcon Ranchero, which we would cruise in from Bellflower, throught Watts, to Central Ave LA where his Dad owned a richfield station. During those riots, everything around that station got torched-but he had all blacks working for him. They saved his station. [Off topic, I know, but it brought back some memories of cruising the LA area in the early sixties.] Glad I don't live there anymore!

My 1st was a '48 Willys CJ2A, the first civilian model of the Jeep. I learned to drive in it when I was 11 yrs old. My Mom taught me, down in the "back 40" That little sucker would take me anywhere, as long as I didn't want to cruise at more than 38mph!! Drove that Jeep 'til about '74 when I got my 1st sports car, a '69 TR6. Ahhh,, Royal blue, wire wheels, Michelins, dual carbs. And a rusty frame, which after a while made front end alignment impossible!! Someday I'll have another one, and immediately mount the seat 4" further back so my knees will go under the steering wheel!!

If any other that Mr. Shiftright can recall what this car looks like give yourself a beer. 1990 my friend had a silver one with the 318 power everthing, stage wheels t-roof it was smoking so I went out and got a maroon slant 6 225? Bullet proof engine ext. with the only options of deluxe red velour int. and a door chime $1400 Canadian + $500 for brakes and a new pitman arm and she&#146;s on the road. Only one-prob. winter, snows on rear low tread tires on front. I soon learned it doesn't make sense for the car to go in the snow when you can't steer. Hit a tree thick as my arm tore the passenger side fender off took out the rad the bumper. Of course I decided not to put collision on it no need for an old car. That led me to my next car a 1980 Buick Park Avenue. I will save it for later. I know you are thanking me for that.

My first car was a 1974 MG Midget. It was the last year of the chrome bumpers, with the 1275cc engine, 4spd stick, and those dual SU carbs. I did a slight restoration on it, with a good repaint, new top, and new interior. I kept the car totally stock, except for the wheels which were mag wheels that were 14"x6", where the originals were 13"x4.5". The car was totalled one Saturday afternoon about 4 years ago :-(

I loved that car because it was a classic convertible and I got a lot of compliments on it. Otherwise, it was a nightmare to balance those carbs every weekend, deal with Lucas electronics, and the hydraulics were terrible! But, I would love to have that car back.

Hmmm...the carbs are actually quite simple if you learn the little tricks...(gee, there's only 3 moving parts inside!)...but yes, you're right, the Lucas stuff was pretty crappy back then, and the hydralics, too...but the car was easy to fix...you can still buy 'em cheap...

My first car was outstanding in its field! And after I walked out into that field, pushed away the weeds and haggled with the owner, I paid $25 for my first car, a 15-year old Nash 600 Super. It was 1964, I was 17 and ready for the road. Unfortunately, my newly bought 1949 Nash wasn't quite ready--someone had disabled the front brakes. I drove my brother's 56 Ford slowly home while he followed in my Nash. That way we could slow both cars by gently bumping the large chrome bumpers.

After fixing the brakes, I began driving the car to school. Imagine the stir it caused when I showed up at school with a big, long car that looked like an upside-down bathtub. No one had seen anything like it! I revved the engine a few times in low and everyone applauded. I didn't know why until later when someone told me that my front wheels came off the ground with each rev. The shocks were so bad that the car was bouncing so much it lifted the front wheels. I soon discovered that I could grab the front of the car and bounce it by hand and make the wheels come off the ground. Boy, was this car fun!

More rumors of "The Weird Car" spread through school when it was discovered that the Nash had seats that folded down to a full-sized bed. The other guys never understood why girls liked my car over their sporty Mustangs and Corvairs. The interior was huge. While others were trying to set the record for getting the most people in a Volkswagen, I was setting the record for getting the most Volkswagens into a car.

My Nash was (under)powered by a small flathead six. I once tried to race a VW Beetle and was left in its dust. To add insult to injury, the other driver didn't even know I was racing him. The Nash, on a good day (tailwind), would make 0-60 mph in 30 seconds. Top speed was 67. I tried several times to make it up the ramp to the interstate but the Nash would conk out. Only by blowing into the gas filler tube would the car restart. I finally traced the problem to a bad fuel pump.

I learned much from my first car. I did all repairs myself, including U-joint replacement, brakes, tune-ups, exhaust pipe repair with a tin can and hose clamps, and even wheel alignments using a piece of string. An accident destroyed the driver's door. I bought a replacement from a junk yard for $4 and installed it myself. After driving my Nash for 18 months, I sold it for $50, twice what I paid for it. Then for $70 I bought my second car...a 1953 Studebaker. Today I drive a 99 Mitsubishi Diamante. It's everything the Nash wasn't--smooth, quiet, powerful, very reliable and bought new. I still do all of my own maintenance, including wheel alignments with string.

Got from a dead family friend when I was 16. 450 cc V-8, hideaway headlights that didn't work, but they looked so cool I used a wrench to put them up and down everyday and night. Fast as hell. The mechanic threw a rod, claimed he was "at the gas station." Uh-huh, right. too bad. it was the car everyone else at school loved to hate. Had it from 1986 to 1987.

My first one was a 69 Pontiac Lemans, when I was 16. My dad bought it from his best friend car dealer as a demo for $3200.00 This thing was nice. Buckets, 350, vinyl roof, rallye wheels etc. Later on he tells me that he could have bought the brand new GTO that he had for about $600.00 more. To this day I give him a bad time about not paying the extra for the Goat. However, I sold my Lemans 6 years later and got $3000.00 for it. The kid that bought it wrecked it within 6 months. How sad.

O.K. folks, beat this for rarity points. Not that they were ever sold in the U.S., but I was in Scotland at the time. Imagine a turquoise upside-down fiberglass bathtub, with white mag wheels, and a 4 cyl. boxer engine hanging out behind the rear axle. Got that picture in your head? Now chop the roof, and replace it with a soft-top held on with stud fasteners, that let go at about 45 mph (which felt like 65!).It looked like a mutant saab 99 from the back-woods, but it was a convertible and my buddy and I had a blast that summer. Remember, this is a Scottish summer we're talking about here.I got pulled over for speeding one time, and the cop laughed so much when I told him I was trying to beat the rain-storm, that he let me off, and helped me push-start it when it stalled on me.Bought it for pocket-change, cost nothing to run (cheapest insurance I ever paid!), sold it after 5 months at a profit, to an enthusiast (read: nutcase) who stripped it down and restored it.My friends back in Scotland tell me they still see it around now and then, sporting a vw yellow paintjob these days.Unlike the rest of you, I really wouldn't want to own something like that again. Fun at the time though.

My first car was a 1971 Pontiac LeMans that I paid$550 for in 1981. It was a 350 automatic, with rally wheels and an 8-track tape deck (remember those?). My fondest(?) memory of it was in the winter of '82, when I went "exploring" on a back road. I went up a slight incline when the car started to slide (oh yeah - the car had no snow tires!) I tried backing up, to no avail. I then decided to make a U-turn in a field of snow. I turned and WHAM!! What I thought was a flat field was a big ditch filled with snow! It took my cousin, his friend and me 4 1/2 hours to get that sucker out of the ditch. We were completely covered in mud. I didn't do much exploring after that. The car had a bad transmission, bad shocks, and an exhaust system that was rusted - the muffler would scrape the ground on dips. I kept that car for about a year, when may dad (he HATED that car!!) thought I should get rid of it. I traded it for a '74 Mustang II (BIG MISTAKE!! I HATED THAT CAR!!). I do miss that Pontiac. I wish I had used the money to fix it up instead of buy that miserable Mustang.

It seems that everyone had such romantic acquaintances for their first car. I had the '74 Mustang II from the previous post. I got it from my Mother in 1979. She had bought it new in '74. It was brown with the white vinyl top and it was the Ghia model. Cool car for my Mom in those days. I loved that car. It was relativly quick in '79 but it weighed about 5,000 lbs. for it's small size. The 2.8 liter V6 was german. The engine ran great but the car only got about 6 MPG. I traded the car for a new 1980 Chevy Monza. Metalic blue with dark blue interior. Drove that one all through high school and most of college. I sure thought I was cool! Now I look back and wonder why I did not buy the '71 Chevelle instead. I thought the gas mileage was not good enough. What a loser!

In 1963 I purchased my first car ( for ONE Dollar) from a friend / neighbor. It was a two door powder blue 1952 Cadillac with a white roof. I drove that car till I went into the Army. I wish I had that car today. When I left for " Basic Training " my father made me " junk " the car, because he did not want it in " His Garage ". Sometimes I wonder if I was also "in his way"??????

It's funny, since I live in the Nations Capitol I am no fan of driving. But I still dream about the first car I ever had: a 1969 Plymouth Valiant, blue, 2 door, with a slant v6 engine. My friends kept calling her the "blue bomber" so I decided to name it after a real one: The Enola Gay.

Assorted memories include:

Once, I crammed nine drunken people into that baby! I was the designated driver and we just spent the evening dancing in Georgetown. A cop pulls me over on Rte. 66 and after going through all of the preliminaries asks me if I've had anything to drink this evening. No sir, I replied. He took one look (and one whiff) of my passengers, determined that I was performing a public service, and waved me on down the road. "Just don't let me catch you with that many people in a Valiant again, son. That's too nice a car to abuse like that!"

I pulled into a gas station and was filling up my tank when a young grease monkey came out and started drooling over my car. Now, I'm a 17 y.o. punk who knows almost nothing about cars. He offers me $500 for it. Nope, I say. $1000? No way, I laugh. $2000?? My jaw dropped. I asked why on earth would you buy this car for that amount of money? He explained that he was into amateur stock car racing and if he had my car he would smoke everyone on the track. With that engine? I asked. No, he replied. He'd rip it out and put in a 450 V8. He popped my hood and showed me how much room there was under there. He also gave me a nice tour of my engine, which was really nice of him. Never sold him the car, though.

First Car: 1947 Crosely Convertable. Don't laugh. I was only 13 (what in God's name were my parents thinking) and had just been bitten by the then unidentified car bug (virus?)1951, paid $125.00 had to tow it home,no brakes (still mechanical, cable operated). I guess my parents figured that I could never get the thing in running condition. They did not realize at the time that I was a mechanical genius----?? O.K. dumb kid that didn't know what a task I had undertaken. Anyway, I did get it running and quite well. Painted robin egg blue, red wheels with wide 3" painted -on whitewalls and a LONG radio antenna from Western Auto. From the side view it looked like a huge blue portable radio with red and white tuning knobs. Absoluely butt ugley machine but I was the only 13 year old (no license of course) to have a car and of course a BIG hit with the girls. I still have very fond memories of that car. It was responsible for my lifelong addiction to cars, having owned about 80 to date (i'm 62 now) and look forward to my next one the day after I get a brand new one!!

I don't knw what ever happened to that car. Sold it to a friend who ultimately traded it for a bike. He was probably better off. Anyone else out there ever have a Crosley??

Never owned one personally but drove them quite a bit. I like Crosley a lot...how many other American cars made in the 1940s had a overhead cam and disc brakes? The little Crosley 'Hotshot' is a neat little car and fun to drive...actually raced at Le Mans and was doing quite well in its class until the generator (a French generator, btw) died. Almost a moment of glory for a car that now only brings giggles....too bad!

...and I wish i could contribute. My first car was in '89. It was an '86 Dodge Shelby Charger (maroon and silver). I think this was the last year of the car (didn't make 'em very long). It was an interesting little car. Great acceleration, but butt-ugly and very unreliable. I owned it for three months before it was totalled one night by a speeding pizza delivery guy. RIP.

Having not learned my lesson, I bought a '89 Daytona Shelby Z...spent a fortune maintaining that beast too!

Mr. Shiftright: You are quite right the Crosley did race at Le Mans. Of course the Hot Shot was my ultimate dream to own. If you remember "Uncle Tom McCahaill" who wrote road test articles for the old Mechanix Illustrated Mag. ran several to set a enduro record for that class of sports car ( under 850cc, class H production ??) they ran them for some god awful length of time , several days I believe to set a new record that as far as I know has not been broken. Do you remember that? My '47 convert did not have disc brakes, only Hot Shots had them but you could put them on the sedans as a update kit. My car originally had the stamped steel and brazed togeher engine block that naturally leaked coolent. It had been converted to a "CIBA" (cast iron block) assy. before I bought it. Complete ready to install engines cost a whopping $250.00 fob Cincinnati. Those were the days eh? Guess I'm showing my age but what fun cars were back then. Oh I wish I had that '40 Ford Coupe' that I paid $150.00 for !!

When I was 14 (1969) we found this tiny car parked in the street abandoned. No one knew what it was. One guy in the group (the car expert) identified it as a Crosley and claimed they used to sell them in department stores. Ten of us carried it home and it remained in my friends's backyard for years. Ultimately his folks had it towed and junked. Wish we had it now.

When Grandma lost her license, Dad figured that 12 year old Plymouth with 28K miles on it was steal. Complete with bench seats, dashboard lever shift and a flathead six, I took a bus to Redondo Beach to drive it back to SF over the grapevine ( with the moon & stars shining bright) and despite following Dad's instructions (well almost)the engine seized just past the summit...in the snow.

Dad felt so guilty for forcing this ugly beast on a teenage son that he had the engine rebuilt and allowed me to trade it to my older brother for a bashed up 62 beetle. 1967 San Francisco & Vdubs. Some memories survived!!

My first auto was a 1969 Jeep Wagoneer. Had yellow paint painted on with a paintbrush. Bees used to be attracted to it. 3 on the tree 4wd and a v8 that got 12 mpg on the road, in town or offroad. The shifter broke and I could only shift it by opening the hood and shifting it by hand and driving it in second gear. I had someone fix it but when I got it back if you hit a bump with the headlights on they would flicker on and off. Traded it for a Datsun B-210, and unlike the rest of you I never missed it for a second.

I had one of those slant sixes. Paid 1000 for it [a 66 Dart], drove it 140,000 miles, took 600 bucks out of it when someone ran in to it when it was parked-and-after 17 years it owed me nothing. So, a friend and I took it out one day and decided to try to over-rev it and throw a rod or something. Couldn't make it happen-you just couldn't kill that thing. Finally sold it for $200.

"The Sun, The Moon and 0-50 in 5.2 seconds" read the ad corresponding to the light gray 1986 Dodge 600 ES Turbo Convertible in which I took my driver's test. Although it was really my father's daily driver, it was my weekend and date car. (The girls just didn't seem to respect the '77 Buick Lesabre, nor the '77 Chrysler Lebaron that transported me to high-school.)

The '86 Dodge was basically a prototype for the Lebaron GTC convertibles that emerged a few years later. It sported a "Mercedes imposter" body and badging, and had the 2.2 liter turbo 4 with a very tight suspension. I'll never forget all the fun I had in that car. (Even with top down, and all that cowl-shake, it was good to about 120 MPH.

So where is the car? The car was given to my older brother for his college graduation. (I got a '91 Lebaron Convertible.) My brother finally replaced the car last week with a Volvo C70 convertible (and a week prior, my Lebaron was replaced with a new Corvette Convertible)...We are putting the '86 Dodge into storage so that it can be taken out for our children to use on their driver's tests and dates! Maybe the plastic-wood interior and gaudy 80's LED gauges will be back in vogue by then!

Mr. Shiftright: Oh gosh do I remember the Plymouth flat head six. This was my first NEW car. 1954 Plymouth Plaza 2 door. $1699.00 out the door in Columbus ,Ohio, Fall of 1954. Didn't even have a heater. Put one in from a kit sold by Sears. Cute car and a real sleeper. Was geared so low it could beat almost anything for about 100 feet away from a light. Put on a split manifold which would wake the dead when wound to the max. Straight thru "Smitty" mufflers. Nothing this side of a Jag XK120 sounded that good. Dual intake with 2 Stromberg 97 carbs. In those days you could actwork on a car and see the fruits of your labor. That old Plymouth really took a beating. Traded it for a 1955 Plymouth 2 door Hardtop red and white, really sharp. This led to my downfall as I met my wife of 42 years because she liked that "cute boy" in that sharp car. I'm not so cute anymore but I'll bet that Plymouth still is.

I don't think too many of those cars got saved, so you may have outlived most of 'em.

That's right, I forgot, Chrysler made the flathead until 1959, which means a resurrected auto mechanic from 1919 could have fixed it, no problem. I don't think a mechanic from 1959 could fix a 1999 car...I don't think a mechanic from 1999 can fix a 1999 car for that matter...how did I get started on this?

why do I remember this car so well? I loved it!!! I named it "Walnut," and put in a wooden steering wheel and an a wooden gear shift knob on it. I had never driven a stick shift before. The first time I drove it, it took about 20 minutes to go three blocks (I was on a slight hill). But once I learned, there was no turning back. I was 17 years old then, right out of high school, and ready to take on the world !!

I put over 300,000 miles on that car -- went through 2 engines and 3 clutches !! I finally reluctantly sold it in 1986, because by that time, I had a daughter and didn't think it was a safe enough car for a child.

The reimergance of the Volkswagon Beetle is great. I would love to have one again, to see if I could recapture the magic !!